Best Guess · Puzzle #8 · Wednesday, October 7

Best Guess: the answers

Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Play today's Best Guess.

1. 1. How many housing units (houses, apartments, mobile homes) were there in the US as of July 1, 2025?

   The answer: about 148.3 million. The count grew by about 7.8 million units since the 2020 Census base.

   1. 330Mpeople in the US
   2. ÷2.5people a household

   ≈132Mhousing units

   Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Estimates of Housing Units for the United States, Regions, States, and the District of Columbia: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (NST-EST2025-HU)

2. 2. How many cups of coffee do American adults drink in a day?

   The answer: about 534 million. Two in three American adults drink coffee every day, more than drink tea, juice, soda or bottled water.

   1. 250Madults in the US
   2. ×2cups each a day

   ≈500Mcups

   Source: National Coffee Association, More Americans Drink Coffee Each Day Than Any Other Beverage, Bottled Water Back in Second Place

3. 3. How many fans attended Major League Baseball games during the 2025 regular season?

   The answer: about 71.4 million. It was MLB's third straight year of attendance growth, a first since 2005-2007.

   1. 30teams in MLB
   2. ×81home games each
   3. ×30kfans a game

   ≈72.9Mfans

   Source: Major League Baseball, MLB attendance reaches 71.4 million; three straight years of growth for first time since 2007

4. 4. How many words does the average person speak in a day?

   The answer: about 16,000 words. University of Arizona researchers found men and women speak roughly the same amount, though a later study saw the average slip to about 13,000.

   1. 2hours of talking a day
   2. ×60minutes an hour
   3. ×150words a minute

   ≈18kwords

   Source: University of Arizona, via ScienceDaily, Do women talk more than men? It might depend on their age

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